New Screening Tool Identifies Chemicals That May Destroy Cancer Stem Cells

KEYWORDS:
• ANTINEOPLASTIC AGENTS
• BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
• CHEMOTHERAPY, ADJUVANT
• DRUG THERAPY
• NEOPLASMS
• NEOPLASTIC STEM CELLS
• RADIOTHERAPY
• SALINOMYCIN

Researchers have used a novel screening method to identify chemicals that may selectively kill cancer stem cells, a small subset of cancer cells with the ability to self-renew and maintain a tumor (Gupta PB et al. Cell. 2009;138[4]:645-659). The findings have significant clinical implications for treating many types of cancer.

Salinomycin, an agent identified by a novel method for finding chemicals that may selectively kill cancer stem cells, caused reduced malignancy and increased epithelial differentiation in tumor cells (as gauged by expression of E-cadherin protein) when compared with a control treatment.

(Photo credit: P. Gupta, K. Tao, C. Kuperwasser)

“Relative to the other cells in a tumor, cancer stem cells are resistant to many kinds of chemotherapy drugs and to radiation treatment; therefore, it is important to find new therapies that specifically target this class of cell,” said first author Piyush Gupta, PhD, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Broad Institute of MIT and …